This chapter explores a portrait of King Henry VIII that has played a key role in sustaining and inflecting received notions of the Tudor age in the post-Tudor period. It argues that almost without ...
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This chapter explores a portrait of King Henry VIII that has played a key role in sustaining and inflecting received notions of the Tudor age in the post-Tudor period. It argues that almost without exception the Tudorist visual representations of King Henry VIII from the mid-sixteenth to the twenty-first century derive their communicative force from, and were indeed only made possible because of, the existence of an extraordinarily compelling and efficacious point of origin. The portrait of Henry VIII that set this cascade of information, ideas, and associations about the king in motion was the full-length portrait from the Whitehall Mural, painted by Hans Holbein the Younger (1497–1543) in 1537.Less

Myth and Memory in Representations of Henry VIII, 1509–2009

TATIANA C. STRING

Published in print: 2011-12-22

This chapter explores a portrait of King Henry VIII that has played a key role in sustaining and inflecting received notions of the Tudor age in the post-Tudor period. It argues that almost without exception the Tudorist visual representations of King Henry VIII from the mid-sixteenth to the twenty-first century derive their communicative force from, and were indeed only made possible because of, the existence of an extraordinarily compelling and efficacious point of origin. The portrait of Henry VIII that set this cascade of information, ideas, and associations about the king in motion was the full-length portrait from the Whitehall Mural, painted by Hans Holbein the Younger (1497–1543) in 1537.

This chapter analyzes how the cinema and television have rendered Henry VIII. It considers films such as The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) and Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), and television ...
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This chapter analyzes how the cinema and television have rendered Henry VIII. It considers films such as The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) and Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), and television shows such as The Six Wives of Henry VIII and The Tudors. It suggests that Henry has generally been the protagonist in the dramas in which he has appeared, and it has been his experiences and his emotional journey, that are spectators' principal concern.Less

‘A Great Guy with His Chopper’?: The Sex Life of Henry VIII on Screen and in the Flesh

GREG WALKER

Published in print: 2011-12-22

This chapter analyzes how the cinema and television have rendered Henry VIII. It considers films such as The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) and Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), and television shows such as The Six Wives of Henry VIII and The Tudors. It suggests that Henry has generally been the protagonist in the dramas in which he has appeared, and it has been his experiences and his emotional journey, that are spectators' principal concern.

This chapter describes Henry VIII and The Two Noble Kinsmen. Scholarly discussion of these two plays that Shakespeare wrote together with John Fletcher has followed a by now familiar pattern: (i) in ...
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This chapter describes Henry VIII and The Two Noble Kinsmen. Scholarly discussion of these two plays that Shakespeare wrote together with John Fletcher has followed a by now familiar pattern: (i) in the mid-nineteenth century pioneering work identifies the scenes written by each dramatist; (ii) these findings are consolidated by other scholars, using different methods; (iii) Shakespeare 'conservators' deny the findings, asserting his sole authorship; and (iv) a recent generation of scholars, using more powerful analytical tools, validates the originally proposed divisions. The pattern being familiar, in discussing these two co-authored plays there is little need to follow out every move for and against. In particular, the chapter addresses the respective methodologies in enough detail to enable readers to understand and evaluate them.Less

Henry VIII and The Two Noble Kinsmen with John Fletcher

Brian Vickers

Published in print: 2004-01-08

This chapter describes Henry VIII and The Two Noble Kinsmen. Scholarly discussion of these two plays that Shakespeare wrote together with John Fletcher has followed a by now familiar pattern: (i) in the mid-nineteenth century pioneering work identifies the scenes written by each dramatist; (ii) these findings are consolidated by other scholars, using different methods; (iii) Shakespeare 'conservators' deny the findings, asserting his sole authorship; and (iv) a recent generation of scholars, using more powerful analytical tools, validates the originally proposed divisions. The pattern being familiar, in discussing these two co-authored plays there is little need to follow out every move for and against. In particular, the chapter addresses the respective methodologies in enough detail to enable readers to understand and evaluate them.

Sir Richard Morison (c.1513–1556) was an accomplished scholar, propagandist, diplomat, theologian and politician. Based on extensive archival research, this book provides the first full historical ...
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Sir Richard Morison (c.1513–1556) was an accomplished scholar, propagandist, diplomat, theologian and politician. Based on extensive archival research, this book provides the first full historical treatment of Morison, contextualizing him within each of his careers: he is considered as a propagandist, politician, reformer, diplomat and Marian exile. Educated at Oxford and Padua, Morison was a cosmopolitan scholar and owner of an impressive library. His scholarly activities—from poetry to law reform—contribute to our understanding of English humanism. As Henry VIII's most prolific propagandist, Morison constructed theories of English kingship during the crucial years of Henry's Reformation. Yet he was not the servile ‘pet humanist’ of historical commonplace—his polemical tracts offer important new insights into Tudor politics and the English Reformation. Morison was a committed evangelical who adeptly negotiated the vicissitudes of Henry VIII's court. From Thomas Cromwell's client he became an influential political figure: a gentleman of the Privy Chamber and MP in Henry VIII's and Edward VI's reigns. Morison was involved in the English Reformation: in the 1530s he helped draft official doctrinal statements, translated works by leading reformers and composed theological treatises; in the 1540s he served on several Edwardian commissions. Morison's diplomatic career supplies new information on diplomatic training, methodology and culture, and foreign policy, portraying a relatively sophisticated diplomatic corps. In exile, Morison was a more significant figure than previously thought and was at the heart of the exile community in Strasbourg. This book is more than a biography. It is a series of interrelated micro‐studies, each of which makes a substantial contribution to its field.Less

Renaissance and Reform in Tudor England : The Careers of Sir Richard Morison

Tracey Sowerby

Published in print: 2010-04-01

Sir Richard Morison (c.1513–1556) was an accomplished scholar, propagandist, diplomat, theologian and politician. Based on extensive archival research, this book provides the first full historical treatment of Morison, contextualizing him within each of his careers: he is considered as a propagandist, politician, reformer, diplomat and Marian exile. Educated at Oxford and Padua, Morison was a cosmopolitan scholar and owner of an impressive library. His scholarly activities—from poetry to law reform—contribute to our understanding of English humanism. As Henry VIII's most prolific propagandist, Morison constructed theories of English kingship during the crucial years of Henry's Reformation. Yet he was not the servile ‘pet humanist’ of historical commonplace—his polemical tracts offer important new insights into Tudor politics and the English Reformation. Morison was a committed evangelical who adeptly negotiated the vicissitudes of Henry VIII's court. From Thomas Cromwell's client he became an influential political figure: a gentleman of the Privy Chamber and MP in Henry VIII's and Edward VI's reigns. Morison was involved in the English Reformation: in the 1530s he helped draft official doctrinal statements, translated works by leading reformers and composed theological treatises; in the 1540s he served on several Edwardian commissions. Morison's diplomatic career supplies new information on diplomatic training, methodology and culture, and foreign policy, portraying a relatively sophisticated diplomatic corps. In exile, Morison was a more significant figure than previously thought and was at the heart of the exile community in Strasbourg. This book is more than a biography. It is a series of interrelated micro‐studies, each of which makes a substantial contribution to its field.

This book considers the impact of Henry VIII’s break with Rome and the Royal Supremacy of the 1530s upon the generation of poets, playwrights, and prose-writers who lived through those events. ...
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This book considers the impact of Henry VIII’s break with Rome and the Royal Supremacy of the 1530s upon the generation of poets, playwrights, and prose-writers who lived through those events. Spanning the boundaries between literature and history, it charts the profound effects that Henry’s increasingly tyrannical regime had on the literary production of the early 16th century and shows how English writers strove to mitigate, redirect, and finally resist oppressive royal demands. The book argues that the result of Henrician tyranny was both the destruction of a number of venerable literary forms and the collapse of a literary culture that had dominated the late-medieval period, as well as the birth of many modes of writing now seen as characteristic of the English literary renaissance. Separate sections of the book focus specifically upon the work of John Thynne, the editor of the first collected Works of Chaucer; the playwright John Heywood; Sir Thomas Elyot; Sir Thomas Wyatt; and Henry Howard, the poet Earl of Surrey.Less

Writing Under Tyranny : English Literature and the Henrician Reformation

Greg Walker

Published in print: 2005-10-20

This book considers the impact of Henry VIII’s break with Rome and the Royal Supremacy of the 1530s upon the generation of poets, playwrights, and prose-writers who lived through those events. Spanning the boundaries between literature and history, it charts the profound effects that Henry’s increasingly tyrannical regime had on the literary production of the early 16th century and shows how English writers strove to mitigate, redirect, and finally resist oppressive royal demands. The book argues that the result of Henrician tyranny was both the destruction of a number of venerable literary forms and the collapse of a literary culture that had dominated the late-medieval period, as well as the birth of many modes of writing now seen as characteristic of the English literary renaissance. Separate sections of the book focus specifically upon the work of John Thynne, the editor of the first collected Works of Chaucer; the playwright John Heywood; Sir Thomas Elyot; Sir Thomas Wyatt; and Henry Howard, the poet Earl of Surrey.

This chapter focuses on Morison's polemical tracts against the Pilgrimage of Grace (the Remedy for Sedition and Lamentation) and three tracts aimed at an international audience (the Apomaxis and the ...
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This chapter focuses on Morison's polemical tracts against the Pilgrimage of Grace (the Remedy for Sedition and Lamentation) and three tracts aimed at an international audience (the Apomaxis and the General Council tracts). Previous studies of Morison's propaganda tracts have considered them primarily as obedience literature. In contrast, this study contextualizes the tracts and explores their rhetoric, demonstrating that while obedience was a central theme in Henry VIII's propaganda, the tracts' message was rarely unilateral. Morison's defence of Henry's marital and ecclesiastical policies and justification of the king's treatment of opponents in the relatively neglected Apomaxis is analysed. Morison is established as the author of two official tracts written against a General Council summoned by the pope, which Henry believed would condemn him and his church. These tracts are discussed in the context of English foreign policy, particularly relations with the Schmalkaldic League, and situated within the broader polemical campaign.Less

The Propagandist: Part 1

Tracey A. Sowerby

Published in print: 2010-04-01

This chapter focuses on Morison's polemical tracts against the Pilgrimage of Grace (the Remedy for Sedition and Lamentation) and three tracts aimed at an international audience (the Apomaxis and the General Council tracts). Previous studies of Morison's propaganda tracts have considered them primarily as obedience literature. In contrast, this study contextualizes the tracts and explores their rhetoric, demonstrating that while obedience was a central theme in Henry VIII's propaganda, the tracts' message was rarely unilateral. Morison's defence of Henry's marital and ecclesiastical policies and justification of the king's treatment of opponents in the relatively neglected Apomaxis is analysed. Morison is established as the author of two official tracts written against a General Council summoned by the pope, which Henry believed would condemn him and his church. These tracts are discussed in the context of English foreign policy, particularly relations with the Schmalkaldic League, and situated within the broader polemical campaign.

The chapter studies the politics of Reformation in England, Scotland, and Ireland between 1530 and 1558. Its narrative of change pays particular attention to issues of jurisdiction across English ...
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The chapter studies the politics of Reformation in England, Scotland, and Ireland between 1530 and 1558. Its narrative of change pays particular attention to issues of jurisdiction across English territories and to the dissolution of the monasteries. The intersection between religious changes in the three kingdoms is treated fully.Less

THE POLITICS OF REFORM, 1530–1558

FELICITY HEAL

Published in print: 2003-03-20

The chapter studies the politics of Reformation in England, Scotland, and Ireland between 1530 and 1558. Its narrative of change pays particular attention to issues of jurisdiction across English territories and to the dissolution of the monasteries. The intersection between religious changes in the three kingdoms is treated fully.

This chapter is the first of several which attempt to locate the typical usages of words in historical documents, in this case the Formularies of Faith of Henry VIII. Whatever differences did or did ...
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This chapter is the first of several which attempt to locate the typical usages of words in historical documents, in this case the Formularies of Faith of Henry VIII. Whatever differences did or did not exist between Luther, Calvin, the Catholic Church, Henry VIII, or his Bishops on the correct understanding of the relation between Church and State, none of them thought in terms of a modern separation between religion and a neutral, nonreligious polity. Religion as encompassing Christian Truth does not suddenly disappear with the Reformation challenge to the Catholic Church State but is fundamental to the thinking of both Luther and Calvin, albeit formulated in significantly different ways. Though the stress on interiority and ethical intention, and the rejection of “outward” rituals and merely “external” shows of faith, was a crucial ingredient in the development of the later essentializations of “religion” and “the secular,” a close examination of Protestant texts shows that we can only retrospectively claim to find possible glimmerings of these later distinctions.Less

Luther, Calvin, and Henry VIII's Formularies of Faith

Timothy Fitzgerald

Published in print: 2008-01-01

This chapter is the first of several which attempt to locate the typical usages of words in historical documents, in this case the Formularies of Faith of Henry VIII. Whatever differences did or did not exist between Luther, Calvin, the Catholic Church, Henry VIII, or his Bishops on the correct understanding of the relation between Church and State, none of them thought in terms of a modern separation between religion and a neutral, nonreligious polity. Religion as encompassing Christian Truth does not suddenly disappear with the Reformation challenge to the Catholic Church State but is fundamental to the thinking of both Luther and Calvin, albeit formulated in significantly different ways. Though the stress on interiority and ethical intention, and the rejection of “outward” rituals and merely “external” shows of faith, was a crucial ingredient in the development of the later essentializations of “religion” and “the secular,” a close examination of Protestant texts shows that we can only retrospectively claim to find possible glimmerings of these later distinctions.

This chapter analyses the changing relationship between the Hospital and Henry VIII and his ministers. It is stated that this was generally positive until the fall of Rhodes in 1522, although the ...
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This chapter analyses the changing relationship between the Hospital and Henry VIII and his ministers. It is stated that this was generally positive until the fall of Rhodes in 1522, although the prior of England, the accomplished diplomat Thomas Docwra, was regarded as a royal servant and refused permission to proceed to Rhodes. When the order failed to find a new home quickly after 1522, the king threatened to nationalise it and devote it to the defence of Calais, a threat that galvanised the grand master to come to England to meet the king. However, the difficulties created for the order by the royal breach with Rome were less easy to resolve. The order's privileges, incomes and overseas ties were assaulted by the Reformation parliament between 1529 and 1536, and while a compromise was reached between crown and order in 1537, the langue in Malta was split between those in favour of and opposed to the Henrician Reformation, its divisions perhaps prompting the crown to dissolve it in 1540.Less

The Hospital and the English Crown, 1509–1540

GREGORY O’MALLEY

Published in print: 2005-09-22

This chapter analyses the changing relationship between the Hospital and Henry VIII and his ministers. It is stated that this was generally positive until the fall of Rhodes in 1522, although the prior of England, the accomplished diplomat Thomas Docwra, was regarded as a royal servant and refused permission to proceed to Rhodes. When the order failed to find a new home quickly after 1522, the king threatened to nationalise it and devote it to the defence of Calais, a threat that galvanised the grand master to come to England to meet the king. However, the difficulties created for the order by the royal breach with Rome were less easy to resolve. The order's privileges, incomes and overseas ties were assaulted by the Reformation parliament between 1529 and 1536, and while a compromise was reached between crown and order in 1537, the langue in Malta was split between those in favour of and opposed to the Henrician Reformation, its divisions perhaps prompting the crown to dissolve it in 1540.

John Fisher (1469–1535), appointed bishop of Rochester by Henry VII, was one of the most distinguished churchmen and humanists of the early sixteenth century and Reformation period. A friend of ...
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John Fisher (1469–1535), appointed bishop of Rochester by Henry VII, was one of the most distinguished churchmen and humanists of the early sixteenth century and Reformation period. A friend of Erasmus’, he introduced the study of Greek and Hebrew to the University of Cambridge, of which he was Chancellor, and was beheaded by Henry VIII for his opposition to the Act of Supremacy. He was a notable preacher and author of the first sermon‐sequence to be printed in English. This edition contains introductions and a critical commentary to the English writings of the last 15 years of Fisher's life, including his two anti‐Lutheran sermons, pastoral sermons, and devotional works composed while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London.Less

English Works of John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester : Sermons and Other Writings 1520 to 1535

John Fisher

Published in print: 2002-02-21

John Fisher (1469–1535), appointed bishop of Rochester by Henry VII, was one of the most distinguished churchmen and humanists of the early sixteenth century and Reformation period. A friend of Erasmus’, he introduced the study of Greek and Hebrew to the University of Cambridge, of which he was Chancellor, and was beheaded by Henry VIII for his opposition to the Act of Supremacy. He was a notable preacher and author of the first sermon‐sequence to be printed in English. This edition contains introductions and a critical commentary to the English writings of the last 15 years of Fisher's life, including his two anti‐Lutheran sermons, pastoral sermons, and devotional works composed while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London.